Grim Hollow Sorcerer Subclass Guide (D&D 2024)

Deep diving into the the apocalypse, haunted and wretched bloodline sorcery subclasses.

Apocalypse sorcery

What are they?

Sorcerers that have had infused in their minds, the whisperings of dread prophecies and omens of a terrible future. They have within them, the prophecies of an apocalyptic future.

Key abilities

Apocalyptic spells (lv3)

I really like augury. It’s specific enough to be useful, it’s vague enough not to be overpowered. It’s a divination spell that I think really works. Hellish rebuke is a nice reactionary damage dealer. I’m less of a fan of comprehend languages. It certainly can be useful, but I find those moments to be rare or easy to bypass.

Contagion can be really nasty and is an interesting, long lasting spell. Banishment is a great save or suck spell. Insect plague is a decent AoE spells, but with it being stuck in place, it relies on favourable conditions to be worth the concentration and the effort of maintaining it. I really like Divination too. It can be a fun information gathering spells, though DMs may enjoy roleplaying on the fly less.

Unhinged asservations (lv3)

Being really good at scribing spells and then enhancing them with your metamagic can be really good. It means you can either stockpile enhanced spells, or you can give spells to other players to cast. I think the best use case here is to give allied spellcasters enhanced spells so you can easily have multiple enhanced spells simultaneously. Like a twinned spell haste now affecting 4 party members (if you and your ally cast it).

If you want to really power up your party, join forces with a thief who can cast your spell scrolls using a bonus action using fast hands

Of course, scribing spells is expensive, but at half the cost, this issue is at least reduced.

Theres no limit on ensorcelling spells either, so if you have the money to scribe scrolls, you can bag loads of sorcery points into those scrolls for extra sorcery point uses in an adventuring day.

Bear witness (lv6)

Your innate sorcery is better now. No being frightened, resistance to force damage and, a free use of a metamagic option with one of your spell scrolls (you can cast an action spell as a bonus action).

Handily, as you’re not using a spell slot when casting with a scroll, you can still cast an action spell with a spell slot.

Arcane apocrypha (lv6)

An extra level 5 spell casting each day for free (through a scroll). You can even cast this spell as a bonus action using your innate sorcery.

It’s technically a little less worthwhile ensorcelling this spell scroll (unless you’re giving it to an ally) as the scroll won’t last beyond the day so may not get used and won’t save the sorcery points for another day.

Forbidden magic (Lv14)

Some really powerful effects here, but at some severe costs. You’ll want to have a good reason for using these options. For example, using excessive is only worth it if there’s a high material cost for the spell. Really we’re looking at spells like resurrection or true resurrection for a sorcerer.

Inexorable is best in encounters when you should be able to rest afterwards. Especially encounters when you might take a lot of damage and use high level spell slots.

Pyrrhic is going to be really deadly for high damage spell attacks but the hit point reduction is going to be nasty.

It’s not clear what happens for spells that require multiple attacks rolls, like eldritch blast or scorching ray. I think the intention is that these are all affected. Where this becomes very nasty is on an upcast chromatic orb which will automatically bounce and deal phenomenal damage! This is just too powerful, despite the maximum hit point cost. It’s basically possible to just instant kill too many powerful beings.

The end is nigh (Lv18)

This is a nasty AoE emanation. True, you have to get close to enemies, but not that close. The challenge is also being away from allies too. Maybe you could misty step away once you’ve blasted the apocalypse at everyone. But you’re basically dumping a free, overpowered fireball around you.

What are they good at?

Casting lots of spells. Enhancing allied spellcasting through enhanced spell scrolls. Making their spells seriously enhanced.

How effective are they?

With preparation, really powerful. If you have the resources, you can easily stockpile spell scrolls that are enhanced with metamagic. Metamagic is already powerful and rightly limited. This removes those shackles in potentially big ways.

True, at low levels, with limited resources, this is less of an issue, but a cunning player can quickly let this get out of control. I think there should have been limitations here like maybe only one ensorcelled scroll at a time or something like that.

Other features are also powerful, but forbidden magic has potential to just be broken. Pyrrhic is the epitomy of a glass cannon with mega damage, but a weakened state which in theory is a reasonable trade off on a long adventuring day, but at the end of the day, or with few encounters, this can be absolutely devastating. And you know this will be saved for the BBEG who players will likely encounter last.

I really want to like the apocalypse sorcerer, and I sort of do, but it’s just too easily abused without enough in the way of guardrails against becoming overpowered. Personally, this is a subclass I wouldn’t allow at my table.

Score: 6/5

---

Haunted sorcery

What are they?

Haunted sorcerers gain their powers from a near death experience that leaves them forever accompanied by an undead spirit. While some haunted sorcerers learn to get along with their ghostly companion, others find them a persistent nuisance.

Key abilities

Haunted spells (lv3)

Haunted sorcerers mainly get a mix of utility spells with things like invisibility, greater invisibility, see invisibility, fly, speak with dead and telekinesis all providing lots of non-damage support.

There is bane for a bit of debuffing and chill touch for some damage dealing, but mainly your spells are here to give a load of utility.

Sixth sense (lv3)

Better initiative for sorting out enemies earlier in combat is always handy, especially when you have some nasty AoE spells to hurl around.

Phantom companion (lv3)

An easily invisible familiar is great as a scout. It’s also tougher and more damaging than the average familiar, and it can fly

I doubt that as a sorcerer you’ll really want to be taking the attack action much. Be aware that true strike doesn’t use the attack action, nor does making a spell attack. However, once you hit level 6, you can just command the spectre to make a life drain attack with your bonus action instead.

Strength of spirit (lv6)

A tougher familiar through whom you can cast spells and can use your bonus action to command it to life drain. It means you have one of the best familiars around and get some of the benefits usually only available to warlocks.

You can use cantrips too to activate life drain with a bonus action meaning you’ve got extra to do on your turn.

Deathly pallor (Lv6)

You’re a bit tougher with necrotic resistance now and you can use necrotic damage to bypass most resistances if your spell normally causes a resisted damage type.

Phantom possession (Lv14)

Possess someone with your spectre and gain it’s capabilities. It’ll work best against low charisma targets, especially those without legendary resistances.

I don’t think it’s entirely clear which things the phantom can or can’t do while possessing a body and I think the designers haven’t given this enough consideration. For example, it doesn’t say you can use the features of the target, does that mean you’re limited by life drain as an attack, or can you use the barbarian’s axe you just possessed? What about things like sunlight sensitivity. I feel like the intent here is to act like the entity you’ve possessed, but RAW I’m not sure that works.

Become death (lv18)

Surviving death with a fairly hefty number of temporary hit points is already pretty good. Resistance to all damage makes this even better, and you get flight too. You will need to be careful of those depleting temporary hit points and of the damage you’ll be emanating (that radius is fairly large).

You could take advantage of this by getting close to enemies and away from allies, but this isn’t where a sorcerer naturally wants to be.

What are they good at?

Utility like scouting and turning invisible. At later levels, they become quite resilient. You also get a solid use for your bonus action for some extra damage. Just be aware that this damage doesn’t scale all that well. Possessing is also a great way to add an extra body to the group and remove an aggressor from your enemies.

How effective are they?

That’s a little tricky. As a scout, having a spectral companion is great. So are all the spells you have your hands on. But possession’s effects largely depend on what you’re allowed to do with that form and this will largely depend on your DM.

Even with the worst form of possession though, this is a solid subclass that’s got a lot of interesting tools in their hands.

Score: 4/5

---

Wretched bloodline sorcery

What are they?

When someone is cursed, it’s possible that their affliction is passed on to their offspring. When this happens, these individuals become known as wretched. Some manage to learn to harness this curse to some sort of benefit, becoming sorcerers.

Key abilities

Bad luck charm (lv3)

Causing disadvantage on a creature’s next d20 test is really nice for a sorcerer. Because it’s a bonus action, you can line this up with nasty save or suck spells like banishment. Even if you don’t end up using it on a spell saving throw, it will still be great for attack rolls or similar d20 tests the creature takes. And 1 sorcery point is a small price to pay for this.

Blood ties (lv3)

This is a little more situational. You get to choose one creature type from a limited list. This then does very little if you don’t face that creature type. If you do, it can be really good, except for a couple of caveats. Firstly, you have to maintain concentration on detect good and evil; a level 1 spell that really isn’t that powerful (even if this version is better). Second, as a sorcerer, you’ll be the target of attacks much less so again, this may go a little more wasted. This is especially the case if your AC is low (as the impact of disadvantage is lower against a low AC). I think this feature is normally a little underwhelming.

Wretched curse (lv3)

Some advantages and disadvantages here. Handily, you can choose which you get. For lowest impact, I’d say that perception isn’t a forte of a sorcerer so worse perception in sunlight isn’t a big issue as you’ll likely rely on others for this anyway.

Everyone benefits from stealth and as a charisma class, unless there’s a bard in the party, you may be relied on as the party face. These probably have the more useful advantages though as resilience is more universally useful. While darkvision is easily available elsewhere, seeing through magical darkness can be really useful if you prepare for it.

Share the burden (lv6)

Bestow curse is an OK spell only. With concentration requirements removed and a 60ft range (instead of the usual touch), it becomes a good spell.

Where this begins to shine is in causing disadvantage on saving throws from a particular ability score. You don’t need to coordinate with allies to make the most of this (though you may still want to). This really opens up some of the nastier spell effects for you as you can use concentration on the subsequent spell now. In fact, with quickened spell, you could do this on the same turn (though 5 sorcery points is a lot).

Option 3 could be really disabling too. In theory, you could double curse a character to give them disadvantage on wisdom saving throws too, though this is a lot of setup. You could still use spells like bane and mind sliver to debuff this target’s saving throws further and ensure they’re disabled more often.

Terrifying visage (Lv14)

A magic action to frighten only the creatures you want within 30ft makes some good crowd control. However, the bloodline effects are even more interesting.

Cold and fire resistance feel like the weakest options. Free bonus action teleportation could be really useful for keeping you safe. However, the standout is the undead version. Sorcerers won’t be using their reactions often other than for counterspell and hellish rebuke (and they quickly become a drain on spell slots). Being able to reduce incoming damage once per round by a fair bit is just going to be universally useful.

Vengeful summons (lv18)

A reasonably powerful summon that doesn’t require concentration or a bonus action to command is pretty strong. It doesn’t use a spell slot either so use quickened spell to cast an action spell with a bonus action for a really impactful turn.

What are they good at?

Debuffing enemies. Wretched bloodline sorcerers are also pretty good at having extra effects on the go simultaneously, bypassing some of the usual concentration requirements in a limited way.

How effective are they?

When it comes to debuffing, the wretched bloodline is great! They do have a lot to balance with sorcery points, with many features being a potentially big drain on your resources.

There’s some solid resiliency features in the mix here too, even if blood ties is a bit too situational for my liking.

The subclass is also balanced out by the negatives of wretched curse a bit too. Still, being able to choose your own drawback gives some control around your playstyle making these issues potentially less problematic.

Score: 4/5

---

Which sorcerer subclass is best?

Apocalypse sorcery is by far the best subclass of the lot here. If you’re looking for a hugely powerful spellcaster and have more money than you know what to do with, you can pump your hard earned gold into producing ensorcelled spell scrolls.

As I mentioned above though, this subclass is so easily abused in terms of power levels, that I’d ban it from my table.

The other 2 subclasses are both good options. Wretched bloodline feels better designed with a range of interesting, but not overpowered features. Haunted sorcery introduces some confusion around possession unfortunately. Before choosing this subclass, I’d talk to your DM about how they’d interpret how this works. Largely though, it’s a good option.

What do you think of Grim Hollow’s sorcerer subclasses? Let me know in the comments below.

---

More from Ghostfire Gaming

Interested in more Grim Hollow content or some of Ghostfire Gaming’s other content? Checkout our other guides below.